[LoMileWE-2]

 

[Road Roamer]

 

[Road Roamer]

 

[67shoebox]

bowling bALLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[Road Roamer]

 

[Vamodsquad]

^ I used to have a Bill Muncey picture on my wall when I was a kid. There was limited coverage back then, but he was my favorite Driver !

 

[Infomaniac]

I've seen that boat fly over the start beam. More than once.

 

[Infomaniac]

Most of my pics are in the pits during a race. I'm sure there are too many of the orange boat in the other thread I don't know who took this one. I was Tow Ho and was at the out ramp.

 

[Infomaniac]

Looks like Shane was at this race with us.

 

[Infomaniac]

My son Dillon was asked to be one of the 3 crew members on Tommy's boat.

 

[turbofab]

View attachment 314222

We also had a yellow oil sticker on our hydro. BUT....They made NOTHING that worked in our engine. We tried everything they gave us and it would either foam on the trailer or foam after one lap.
We used Bardahl racing oil after that. Kurt stopped by in a van with 5 gallon pails of oil. They were completely black cans with red stenciled letters that said "Hydro Oil". Nothing else. I asked him what was in it? He said "A little of this and a little of that,........stuff you don't need to know about.". Then he smiled and walked away.
All I can really say is, that when drips of it hit our painted concrete floor, you HAD to use a solvent soaked rag or it was NOT GOING TO CLEAN UP WITH A SHOP RAG! CRAZY slippery stuff that really worked well.
Of course we poured it into Yellow oil pails, though. So anyone watching thought we ran Yellow oil. Just like every other professional race teams out there. They tape a half ounce little bottle inside their sock so they can truthfully say "We run the same XYZ brand of oil in our Formula one, Indy, Top fuel, Prostock, etc. race car with a big smile on their faces (because they just got home from the bank). The general public will believe anything. Just look at our last election.

 

[Road Roamer]

We also had a yellow oil sticker on our hydro. BUT....They made NOTHING that worked in our engine. We tried everything they gave us and it would either foam on the trailer or foam after one lap.
We used Bardahl racing oil after that. Kurt stopped by in a van with 5 gallon pails of oil. They were completely black cans with red stenciled letters that said "Hydro Oil". Nothing else. I asked him what was in it? He said "A little of this and a little of that,........stuff you don't need to know about.". Then he smiled and walked away.
All I can really say is, that when drips of it hit our painted concrete floor, you HAD to use a solvent soaked rag or it was NOT GOING TO CLEAN UP WITH A SHOP RAG! CRAZY slippery stuff that really worked well.
Of course we poured it into Yellow oil pails, though. So anyone watching thought we ran Yellow oil. Just like every other professional race teams out there. They tape a half ounce little bottle inside their sock so they can truthfully say "We run the same XYZ brand of oil in our Formula one, Indy, Top fuel, Prostock, etc. race car with a big smile on their faces (because they just got home from the bank). The general public will believe anything. Just look at our last election.

Was their contingency money to be made like in car drag racing?

I remember when Johnny Ray, painted his boat like Pedregons funny car in hopes of landing McDonalds sponsorship. It didn't work.

 

[Road Roamer]

Dave Rankin's Pennzoil offshore boat.

 

[Road Roamer]

 

[turbofab]

Was their contingency money to be made like in car drag racing?

I remember when Johnny Ray, painted his boat like Pedregons funny car in hopes of landing McDonalds sponsorship. It didn't work.

View attachment 314641

Not a contingency program, just a sponsorship program for our team, though that was way above my pay grade. I was just a hired wrench. Team owner and his staff handled that, I just got to live under their umbrella.
It really changed my perspective on professional racing. Before, I would think it was cool to watch a Top Fuel, NASCAR, etc. hit the wall at full power. Now I really CRINGE and think "Oh, SHIT!.......Those poor crew members are gonna be up ALL night fixing that pile of rubbish!!"
I got to experience blowing up our boat on its first attempt at testing. Our new boat with the first enclosed cockpit. A leaking o-ring on the 65 gallon fuel cell let a few gallons of 115/145 AV gas (with an octane additive) seep into the compartment where the 1938 mechanical MSD box was and it BLEW the whole right side decking off of the new boat. The next day, my wife went into labor with our first child. Yep, she was in labor and I was working on a damn boat. (I DID make it to the hospital to participate in the birth of our son, though. Thinking back on that 36 hr. period, I'm surprised my wife stuck with me now for 40 years.)🤔

 

[Road Roamer]

Not a contingency program, just a sponsorship program for our team, though that was way above my pay grade. I was just a hired wrench. Team owner and his staff handled that, I just got to live under their umbrella.
It really changed my perspective on professional racing. Before, I would think it was cool to watch a Top Fuel, NASCAR, etc. hit the wall at full power. Now I really CRINGE and think "Oh, SHIT!.......Those poor crew members are gonna be up ALL night fixing that pile of rubbish!!"
I got to experience blowing up our boat on its first attempt at testing. Our new boat with the first enclosed cockpit. A leaking o-ring on the 65 gallon fuel cell let a few gallons of 115/145 AV gas (with an octane additive) seep into the compartment where the 1938 mechanical MSD box was and it BLEW the whole right side decking off of the new boat. The next day, my wife went into labor with our first child. Yep, she was in labor and I was working on a damn boat. (I DID make it to the hospital to participate in the birth of our son, though. Thinking back on that 36 hr. period, I'm surprised my wife stuck with me now for 40 years.)🤔

That's quite a story.

 

[Road Roamer]

 

[turbofab]

What was the responsibility of the guy in between the outboards?🤔

 

[turbofab]

View attachment 314818
View attachment 314820
View attachment 314819

Here is the 1973 Pay-N-Pack Merlin powered race. Good race between the Bud (driven by Dean Chenowith RIP) and the Pay-N-Pack.
Dean was killed in 1982 and we had the cork-screw prop shaft hanging on the shop wall as a reminder that people can die in our boat. The shaft was made out of 2.5" of K-Monel. Amazing that it was twisted up like it was. If no one was around, I would check the shaft out CLOSELY! (Out of respect because our crew chief was Dean's brother in law.)
Dean was married to our crew cheifs' sister.

 

[Road Roamer]

Pay N Pak had 'em covered! Probably letting off some at the end. I bet this was shown on television on Wide World of Sports or something. I was 5 in '73! Our parents would take us to Mission bay to see the Thunderboats back then. Nothing like the sound of a full field of boats taking the flag. When I got into video in the 90's it was fun having all access into the race pits and meeting some of the drivers.Thanks for sharing!